Incubator.



N0. 821,324. PATENTED MAY 22, 1906.

G. E. ADAIR. INGUBATOR.

APPLIUATION FILED OCT. 11, 1905.

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CHARLES E. ADAIR, or BUFFALO, NEW YORK. ASSIGNOR TO CYPHERS INCUBATOR COMPANY, or BUFFALO, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

llNCUBATOF-i.

Patented May 22, 1906.

Application filed October l1 1905. Serial No. 282,314.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. ADAIR, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Incubators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in incubators, and particularly to chi ck-drawers therefor.

In the drawings, Figure 1, is an elevation of a partial vertical section through the center of the chick-drawer embodying this invention. Fig. 2 is a partial perspective view of the rear end of the lower part of an incubator, show ing the position of the parts with a chickdrawer inserted and a chick-drawer removed;

and Fig. 3 is a crosssection of one of the chick-drawers.

The incubator 1 may be of any suitable.

form and is provided with an egg-chamber 2, having a door 3 for access to said eg -chamber. The egg-chamber contains an egg-tray 4, which is provided with means for permitting the passage of the newly-hatched chicks out of said tray and into the chi ck-space underneath the same. This may be accom plished by making the egg-tray shorter than the depth of the incubator, or, as shown in the present instance, the wire-screen bottom 5 of the egg-tray has at the frontmost portion a removable section 6, which at the time hatching begins is removed in order that the chicks may drop through the opening thus formed to the bottom of the chick-drawer.

The egg-tray rests on suitable supports 7 leaving a clear open space underneath it. Where two egg-trays are employed, it is convenient to make use of a standard 8 between the same having rabbets or cleats to support the eg trays.

Un erneath the egg-tray or egg-chamber is a chick-space 9, containing a chi ck-drawer 10. This chick-drawer has a porous bottom 11, made in the present instance of any suitable fabric.

In the form of incubator shown in Fig. 1 and in practically all forms of modern incubators it is important to provide for thorough ventilation, and for this purpose the bottom of the chick-drawer is made of suflicient p0 rosity to permit suitably free ventilation therethrough. In some instances the bottom of the chick-drawer is made of burlap supported by a coarse wire-netting.

The cl1ick-space 9 has a front door 12, through which the chick-drawer 10 may be inserted and withdrawn. The bottom of the chick-space 9 is composed ofa removable frame 13, resting in rabbets or on cleats or other suitable supports and carrying a porous sheet 14, which may be single or compound and is adapted to permit the passage of the air for ventilation therethro'ugh. 13 is of such size as to fit upon supports 15 on the chick-drawer 10, so that said sheet of fabric 14 when in position will constitute a cover for said chick drawer. This cover may be withdrawn through the chick-door 12.

In order to insert the chick-drawer in position, there are two inclined guides or supports 16 at the back of the incubator and within the chick-space 9, which are lowest toward the front of the incubator and highest at the back and are placed at such a distance apart that the rear lower corners of the chickdrawer will rest upon said supports, and when pushed backward through the door 12 the rear end of the chick-drawer will rise on said supports 16 until it reaches the maximum height to which it is intended to raise it. The chi ck-drawer is then drawn forward, and its front end rests upon blocks or supports 17 on the sides or division-walls of the incubator. By this means the chick-drawer is brought close to the bottom of the eg -tray,

brought as closely as possible to the hotter air above it. When the chick-drawer is as close as possible to the source of heat, the newlyhatched chicks are in practically the same stratum of hot air as that in which the hatching occurs, they dry quickly, and do not suffer from a quick change of temperature.

When the removable portion 6 of the bottom of the egg-drawer is taken away, the chicks will descend into the chick-drawer 10. If now it is desired to remove the chicks to brooders, the chick-door 12 is opened, the bottom 14 is removed, the chick-drawer 10 is pushed backward until it is removed from thesupports 17, its front end is then lowered, and the frame and porous sheet forming the bottom 14 of the chick-space are slid upon the top of the chick-drawer, forming a cover therefor, which, if said cover is made of a The frame and the chicks when in said drawer are muslin, felt, burlap, or like fabric, will make a shaded or light-excluding cover for the drawer, as well as a protection of the chicks from drafts in transporting. It has been found that young chicks, and particularly young ducks, are very timid, and when the front door 12 is opened and these described operations commence the chicks rush to the back of the chick-drawer, and when the bottom 14 is slid in place on the top of the chickdrawer some of the chicks are very apt to be injured. In order to prevent this, dia phra ms are provided which normally lie close y between the sides of the chick-drawer and against the rear portion of the bottom of the chick-space and which, as the bottom 14 is slid bac into place and the top of the chick-drawer rises before said bottom, are lifted and exclude the possibility of any chick getting in the way of said top. In the present instance the diaphragms are sheets 18 of a light wire-netting stiffened in any suitable manner at the edges, either by hemming said edges or by forming a frame of some kind around them, and said diaphragms have each a transverse pivot 19, whose aXis is higher than the top of the drawer and rests in suitable notches or sockets 20 in the sides of the chick-spaces. These diaphragms normally rest in the inclined position. shown in dotted -2 and the dotted lines in Fig. 1.

The operation of the diaphragms is as fol lows: WVhen the front door 12 is opened and the diaphragm 14 is about to be slid inplace, the chicks will rush to the back end of the drawer; but their heads will come in contact with the diaphragm 18, and as the rear end ofthe frame 13 is pushed in place it strikes said diaphragm and slides along its under surface, pushing the chicks out of the Way. As shown in Fig. 1, the rear member of the frame 13 is beveled, as at 21, so as to present a very narrow edge against which any portion of the chick might come in contact in the process just mentioned. Thus the diaphragm 14 may be slid into place, as the top of the chick-drawer 10, without endangering any of the chicks.

What I claim is 1. The combination of an incubator, a chick-drawer therein, a sliding cover for said drawer, and a diaphragm hung in said incubator and adapted to rest normally upon the end of the chick-drawer and to be raised therefrom by the cover when sliding the same into place.

2. The combination of an incubator, a chick-drawer therein, a sliding cover for said drawer, and a diaphragm pivoted in said incubator in front ofthe rear end of said incubator and adapted to rest upon the rear end of the drawer and to be raised therefrom by the cover when sliding the same into place.

3. The combination of an incubator, an egg-tray therein, a removable chick-drawer therein, and supports for said drawer for guiding it upward as it is inserted in place and for holding it close to the bottom of the egg-tray.

4. The combination of an incubator, an egg-tray therein having an opening in its bottom, a removable ohickdrawer, and supports for said drawer for guiding it upward as it is inserted in place and for holding it close to the bottom of the egg-tray.

5. The combination of an incubator, an egg-tray therein, a removable chick-drawer and forwardly-inclined rear supports for said drawer for guiding the rear end of the drawer upwardly and supporting it close to the bottom-of the eg -tray, and a front support for holding the front end of said drawer close to the bottom of the egg-tray.

6. The combination of an incubator, an egg tray-therein, a removable chick-drawer and forwardly-inclined rear supports for said drawer for guiding the rear end of the drawer upwardly and supporting it close to the bottom of the egg-tray, and a stationary support for the front end of the drawer upon which said drawer may be moved forwardly to rest for holding the front end of said drawer close to the bottom of the egg-tray.

CHARLES E. ADAIR.

WVitnesses:

D. GURNEE, C. WV. CARROLL. 

